You are invited to a unique, immersive weekend of storytelling for adults from the world-renowned tradition bearer and storyteller Shonaleigh. This is a rare chance to hear these ancient tales in the light and on the tongue, stories untold for two generations and barely spoken of for decades.

In the latest episode of Shonaleigh’s acclaimed Gem cycle we meet a Makhshef – a sorcerer and bringer of chaos. Once upon a time he had both an imprisoned woman and a whole city to torment, and all power to spread mayhem and evil was his. One day, he was tricked by his prisoner; the woman had taken the silver threads of the moon and sewed images into a blue cloth, taking everything she embroidered to a place of safety.

In a rage, the Makhshef took the cloth and would have destroyed it, had his eye not caught the half-finished likeness of himself, glinting in the moonlight. He could not destroy the cloth without destroying himself… This is the story of a demon searching for his soul and for the only woman in the world who can finish stitching his image into the Cloth of Hope and Sorrow.

Shonaleigh is a Druts’yla, and carries on a living unbroken oral tradition passed down from grandmother to granddaughter by generations of Jewish women. Shonaleigh knows around 4,000 tales that she can recall on request, using the lost art of ‘stories within stories’.

This telling of The Cloth of Hope andSorrow will be recorded, as part of the Last Drut’syla Project, to create an archive of this tradition’s stories.

This is an unmissable opportunity for anyone interested in stories or in oral and lost cultures to come and help to document and archive this tradition through listening, requesting stories and asking questions. There will only be 20 places, so booking is essential.

The telling of The Cloth of Hope and Sorrow will start at 7.30pm on Friday evening (arrive from 6pm for a bite to eat first). Saturday’s session will run approximately 10am – 9pm. Sunday will run approximately 10am – 2pm. All will take place within a relaxed atmosphere with plenty of cushions and sofas and cups of tea.

There is a charge of £30 to attend, to cover the cost of the room and basic lunches and dinners. You are also welcome to make a donation to Shonaleigh and Simon’s travel and project expenses, and to bring cakes, biscuits and snacks to share (gluten and dairy-free if possible).